MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Price Target Cut to $680.00 by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its price target reduced by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $700.00 to $680.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on MSCI. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.23.

MSCI Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $590.36 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $46.27 billion, a PE ratio of 41.99, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $606.80 and a 200 day moving average of $581.51. MSCI has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 168.58%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI will post 16.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LRI Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 120.0% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp grew its stake in MSCI by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Company Profile

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.